Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike (originally marketed as Half-Life: Counter-Strike) is a multiplayer first-person shooter initially created by Minh Le and Jess Cliffe as a mod for Half-Life. By the fourth beta, Valve Corporation began assisting the two developers and ultimately offered them jobs. Both of them accepted, and the rights for the game were acquired by Valve. After over a year of public beta testing, the retail version of Counter-Strike was published by Sierra Entertainment on November 8, 2000 for Microsoft Windows. Since the creation of the franchise, various sequels and spinoffs have been created such as Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Source, and the latest in the series, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Development Beta The game started out as a Half-Life ''modification on the GoldSrc engine. It went through seventeen different iterations and was eventually released as a standalone game. Throughout this time, it grew in popularity and became one of the most popular first-person shooters of all time. Post-release On November 8, 2000, the game was ushered out of the beta phase and officially released as a fully licensed product. Even afterwards, development was ongoing and saw the release of several very large patches. The most recent, 1.6, is now used as a title to differentiate the original game from the rest of the series. With the launch of Steam on September 12, 2003Steam Client Released, these large patches became unnecessary and were replaced with smaller updates. Gameplay Its fast-paced and team-oriented gameplay has stayed relatively the same throughout the years. In it, two teams, the Counter-Terrorists and the Terrorists, fight to complete an objective or eliminate the opposing team. Although basic, it is considered one of the most revolutionary online games of all time. The original Counter-Strike came exclusively with multiplayer, without computer-controlled players. Over time, however, several server-side modifications have added bots for in-game use and bots were officially introduced in its later successors, Counter-Strike (Xbox) and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Multiplayer ''Counter-Strike has been praised worldwide for its highly competitive multiplayer. There are three official scenarios (game modes), each with their own teams, objectives, and maps. In all cases, the two teams are the Counter-Terrorists face off against the Terrorists. Scenarios There are three official scenarios in Counter-Strike: *Assassination *Hostage rescue *Bomb defusal A fourth scenario, known as Escape, existed during the Counter-Strike Beta. The gamemode itself is still playable, but all of the official maps were removed prior to the game's release. Maps There are 25 official maps in the latest version of Counter-Strike. Assassination *Oilrig Hostage rescue *747 *Assault *Backalley *Estate *Havana *Italy *Militia *Office *Siege Bomb defusal *Airstrip *Aztec *Cobble *Chateau *Dust *Dust2 *Inferno *Nuke *Piranesi *Prodigy *Storm *Survivor *Torn *Train *Vertigo Weapons Counter-Strike features 25 weapons, ranging from knives to shotguns and submachine guns. Melee *Knife Pistols *9×19mm Sidearm *KM .45 Tactical *228 Compact *Night Hawk .50c *ES Five-seven *.40 Dual Elites Shotguns *Leone 12 Gauge Super *Leone YG1265 Auto Shotgun Submachine guns *Schmidt Machine Pistol *Ingram Mac-10 *KM Sub-Machine Gun *KM UMP45 *ES C90 Machine guns *M249 Rifles *IDF Defender *Clarion 5.56 *CV-47 *Maverick M4A1 Carbine *Schmidt Scout *Krieg 552 *Bullpup *D3/AU-1 *Krieg 550 Commando *Magnum Sniper Rifle Equipment Along with the weapons, there are nine purchasable items of equipment, three of which are grenades. If ammunition, the radio and the flashlight are to be included, the number of equipment is increased to twelve. Grenades *HE grenade *Flashbang *Smoke grenade Miscellaneous *C4 *Defusal kit *Kevlar + Helmet *Nightvision goggles *Tactical shield Factions Each team has four available factions that players can choose as their third-person model. Terrorists *Phoenix Connexion *Elite Crew *Arctic Avengers *Guerrilla Warfare Counter-Terrorists *SEAL Team 6 *GSG-9 *SAS *GIGN Reception Counter-Strike is considered one of the most influential games of all time. It's'' still the most popular ''Half-Life ''mod and even one of the most popular PC games. As of December 3, 2008, ''Counter-Strike ''has sold over 4.2 million retail copies, more than any other Valve game besides ''Half-Life ''and its sequel, ''Half-Life 2.Valve Reveals Lifetime Retail Sales It scored an 88 on Metacritic, based on the reviews of eleven critics.[http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/half-life-counter-strike Half-Life: Counter-Strike on Metacritic] Trivia *If the option "HD Models" is enabled in the video settings, all playermodels will be replaced by models from Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Scientist hostages will be given HD models but the "office worker" and "construction worker" models will not be replaced. Gallery General mainmenu_cs.png|The main menu. Cs_1.0_menu.jpg|Main Menu of the "WON" (World Opponent Network) Version,released by Sierra. box_art_cs.jpg|The original box art. box_art_cs_back.jpg|The original box art's back. cs_inside.jpg|Inner box art jewel_art_cs.jpg|Jewel art jewel_art_back_cs.jpg|Back jewel art cs_box.jpg|Original retail box cs_complete.jpg|Box, manual, jewel case and CD CD.jpg|CD ALTCD.jpg|Alternate CD CD4.jpg|The CD from Half-Life: Platinum UECD.jpeg|Ultimate Edition CD (Generation) Official screenshots screenshot1_cs.jpg|Beta Elite Crew and Beta Phoenix Connexion in the map Italy. Both are wielding the Krieg 552. screenshot2_cs.jpg|Beta Arctic Avengers wielding an Ingram Mac-10 and Beta Phoenix Connexion wielding an CV-47 in the cut map Tundra. screenshot3_cs.jpg|A SEAL Team 6 operative with a Schmidt Scout and a GSG-9 operative with a ES C90 in an old version of Piranesi. screenshot4_cs.jpg|A Beta Elite Crew and a Beta Guerrilla Warfare wielding Glocks are heading for Bombsite B in the map Dust. screenshot5_cs.jpg|A SAS operative is engaging an Elite Crew member with a Bullpup in Dust. screenshot6_cs.jpg|A Guerrilla Warfare member is attacking the Counter-Terrorists in Havana. screenshot7_cs.jpg|A Condition Zero GIGN operative is escaping from the C4 in the map Inferno. screenshot8_cs.jpg|A GIGN operative wielding a Bullpup is engaging two Phoenix Connexion members wielding the CV-47 and KM UMP45 in Prodigy. Note that a Flashbang is going to burst on the ground. screenshot9_cs.jpg|A SAS operative wielding a UMP45 is engaging an Arctic Avengers member wielding a CV-47 in Havana. screenshot10_cs.jpg|A Counter-Terrorist is reloading an M4A1 in Aztec. screenshot11_cs.jpg|A GSG-9 operative with a UMP-45 is engaging a Phoenix Connexion member wielding a Krieg 552 in Havana. screenshot12_cs.jpg|A Counter-Terrorist operative is aiming at an Arctic Avengers member with a Scout in Dust2. screenshot13_cs.jpg|A GIGN operative wielding an MP5 is engaging an Elite Crew member with a Krieg 552 in the map inferno. References External links *[http://store.steampowered.com/app/10/ Counter-Strike] at Steam *''Counter-Strike'' at Wikipedia ru:Counter-Strike 1.6 tr:Counter-Strike Category:Counter-Strike Category:Games